BENGALURU: Cash worth Rs 65 crore was seized in raids across
Karnataka till Tuesday evening, registering a 350% increase from the currency seized during the 2013 assembly elections. The pollbound state’s appetite for cash is being pointed out as a major reason for the recent nationwide ATM currency crunch.
“There are 11 days more to polling and seizures will go up as we intensify surveillance. We have intelligence inputs about politicians hoarding cash meant for distribution among voters in the run-up to polling on May 12,” an official attached to the
EC told TOI. The bulk of the currency seized is in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. Preliminary investigation by the police and income tax department revealed that a majority of the cash was withdrawn from banks and ATMs the past two months.
In fact, the higher than normal withdrawals had made several ATMs in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana go dry recently and created an acute cash crunch. Chief electoral officer (Karnataka)
Sanjiv Kumar said, “The total cash seized in Karnataka during the 2013 assembly polls was Rs 14.42 crore, and in the 2014 parliamentary polls it was Rs 28.08 crore. The cash seized so far (Rs 65 crore) has been high.” The I-T department’s investigation wing has seized around Rs 20 crore in cash following raids on government contractors in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Davanagere and
Belagavi districts.
“A cash handler in Bengaluru, suspected to be funding candidates, had Rs 3.18 crore. One of his cars, parked outside his residence, had Rs 2 crore. The huge stocks of cash with such handlers is a clear pointer to hoarding that triggered the ATM crunch,” said an I-T department official. On Tuesday, authorities seized Rs 1.22 crore from a car near a toll booth on the
Bengaluru-Pune highway. CEO Kumar said the source was being investigating.